NARUTO: The Coming of Age
by Admired
Summary: After year of neglect in his early Academy life, Naruto finally gets the chance he always needed at a shot of help. What will Naruto evolve into, now that he knows the basic assets of being a Shinobi? More importantly, what will happen to the ninja world?


Chapter 1: Prologue

Hello, and welcome to my Naruto story. My original Pen Name on was 'Clean Penguin', but I decided to make a completely new account, considering that I was using my mom's email address. She didn't really like all the alerts she was receiving, so I decided to make my own email, and a new account. So without further ado, let's begin.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns the Naruto manga, and has a partnership with VIZ Media for the TV show. All references in this story are entitled to Mr. Kishimoto and VIZ Media, not I.

(Beginning Scene, Naruto's house)

It was a rainy day in the Hidden Leaf Village, or shortly known as Konoha. The present time was around 7:35 in the morning, which was the time of rest for most people not affiliated with the Ninja scene. One exception was Naruto Uzumaki, the young blonde haired boy everyone had high expectations for. Of course, no one thought that he could be Hokage, as he always informed everyone with the utmost confidence. Everyone just expected him to work twice as hard as everyone else, which would take time off of the boys leisure, thus disabling most of the time he used pranking.

"98, 99... 100!" Naruto announced as he plummeted down onto the ground belly first after doing his routine push ups. He switched over onto his back, and got into the crunches position. "Let's see, 200 crunches sounds nice."

Around Naruto's room, the most noticeable things were the collection of empty bowls, all consisting of Ramen residue. It was practically devouring the table, considering the amount of circular bowls. By the door was a trashcan that was full of paper about a foot high out of the trashcan. It was next to a couch, so it wasn't that hard to see how the paper was balancing that well. The bed was against the wall, with the right side leaning towards the window. Basically, it looked like the right side if you came inside the house, but actually, if Naruto was laying down, to his left was the window which had a large crack down the middle. It was from the outside and it wasn't that deep, so the probability of water seeping through from the rain was highly unlikely. The blinds were raveled, so the left side of the blinds was towards the top of the window, while the right side was on the bottom right hand corner. The blinds were broken, so it wasn't like Naruto could do anything to them.

"134, 135, 136..." Naruto was having a hard time on the next one. "…137, 138." He put the image of being Hokage into his mind, and started being consistent with his crunches.

(Hokage's Office)

The Jounin were spread out in a half circular pattern in front of the old, veteran Hokage. Kakashi, Kurenai, Anko, Gai, Asuma, Shikaku, Hiashi, and Tsume were all present, and patiently waiting for the Hokage to finish his drag on the pipe.

"First off, I'd like to thank the Clan Leaders for being here on such early standards." Sarutobi began, as he took the time to put away his pipe in order to begin the serious, mature conversation he was about to have.

The ones that were addressed nodded, as they looked onto the elder, awaiting his next words.

"As you may have been informed, the gossip is correct regarding the Uzumaki child." Sarutobi announced, lacing his words with a little pity. Everyone in the office stood stoic, as if they knew that this meeting was for that reason the whole time. "Yesterday, at approximately 6:34PM, Naruto Uzumaki was attacked by an angry mob of 15 people, all under the influence of alcohol. This has been the 4th reoccurrence this week, and it's only Wednesday."

"Hokage-sama, if my sources of information are correct, the boy was not in my clan's estate vicinity, therefore I have nothing to do with this, and I say so in the utmost respect possible." Hiashi began, earning a few scoffs from some of the less intelligent people in the group.

"This meeting was not called forth to find any suspects, nor was it called forth to bash down against any of you for not taking part in stopping the assault." Sarutobi informed, earning his aging ears the sound of sighs in relief. "I simply called forth a meeting to discuss a new plan that I have formed, which requires the help of everyone in this room."

Sarutobi took this moment and looked to see if everyone had eyes on him. He had all 15 eyes, considering Kakashi and his only 1 revealing eye.

"Considering Naruto's current state, there is too much at stake for him just to be walking around, receiving beatings daily. If the seal get's tampered with too much, unspeakable things may happen." Sarutobi announced to the room, glad that their attention is still there. "So, the Council and I have finally came to an agreeable conclusion that Naruto needs a few people that are looking out for him, as well as a few people to teach him some things. Kurenai, you will be in charge of teaching Naruto a few social skills, as the boy is still quite obnoxious for his age."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kurenai responded, with a bow.

Sarutobi nodded, before continuing. "Gai, you will be in charge of teaching Naruto the proper warm up skills that he needs, as well as teaching him the basics of taijutsu. It has came to my attention that he is behind everyone in taijutsu, and he needs a little tampering. Do not overdo it, just teach him what everyone else has learned."

"Very well, Hokage-sama. The fire's of youth will burn brightly in Naruto's heart!" Gai announced with fire in his eye, with one fist pointed up to the ceiling. Everyone sweat dropped.

"Gai, don't overdo his training." Sarutobi repeated himself.

"Am I that obvious?" Gai cried out.

Surprisingly, Hiashi joined in on the rising voice of everyone in the room that replied to Gai's question. Of course, everyone said yes.

"Kakashi, you will be in charge of helping Naruto perfect his clone's, and his replacements. Nothing else." Sarutobi informed the white haired Hatake.

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied.

"Anko, I really need to trust you on this one." Sarutobi says to Anko, with a pleading look of seriousness in his eyes. She smirked evilly, as usual.

"On what, Hokage-sama?" Anko questioned, with sarcasm written all over her voice.

"Naruto will need help in his kunai training, as he also has had poor results in that particular branch. We all know you are the one for this job, but the only thing is…" Sarutobi began, but was interrupted by Anko.

"You're worried that I'll kill the brat? Don't worry, Hokage-sama. I'll be a good girl." Anko announced, with sincere eyes.

"Why did I feel uncomfortable when you said that? Never mind. Shikaku…" Sarutobi began, getting the sleeping man's attention. If anyone wanted to know where Shikamaru got his laziness from, it was his dad.

"Let me guess. You want me to educationally inform Uzumaki-san in everything that was covered in the academy?" Shikaku theorized. Sarutobi laughed.

"They don't call you a genius for nothing." Sarutobi joked, earning a respectful smirk from Shikaku.

"Asuma, you are the only one that will be spoiling Naruto. I need you to find out his affinity, as it may prove useful in the future." Sarutobi informed his son, earning him a nod from Asuma.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Asuma replied, as strange as it felt calling him Hokage-sama, instead of father.

"Now, for the clan leaders. I need each of you to be the scouts of the group, though you won't have to leave your home for this." Sarutobi informs Tsume and Hiashi, before suddenly tossing a piece of orange cloth at Tsume. "I need you to capture Naruto's scent so that in the future, you will be the first to know if he is in trouble."

Tsume leaned her head down and sniffed the cloth for a few seconds. "Naruto is at his apartment, and it appears he is moving around judging by the salty smell. This is telling me he must be sweating." Tsume announced, earning a respectful nod from Sarutobi.

"Hiashi, you will be checking on Naruto every hour with your Byakugan, just to make sure he isn't being attacked. That is all you have to do." Sarutobi informed Hiashi, who in return nodded.

"So be it, Hokage-sama." Hiashi replied, before turning his Byakugan on. "I can confirm what Tsume said on Naruto's current position." He then turned it off.

"Alright, good work. Gai, you will be arriving at Naruto's house after this meeting is done, and you will teach him the proper way to work out. Don't push anything today, but anything after today is completely up to you." Sarutobi informed Gai, who in return started rambling about the early blossom of the youthful flames. "I will inform everyone else on their shifts when the time comes. Only Gai will work with Naruto today. You are dismissed."

(Naruto's house)

"355, 356, 357, 358, 359..." Naruto was trying to break his limits on push ups, until a huge green man kicked the door down.

"360!" Gai screams at the top of his lungs. He was almost outdone by Naruto's screams, but everything is a competition with Gai. "You're making me proud already, young flame!"

Naruto had his mouth agape for the longest time, before deciding to speak up. "Aren't you bushy brows instructor? Why are you here?" Naruto questioned, while his mouth became agape again.

"I have been assigned to a special task in adding fuel to the youthful flames that devour your heart!" Gai replied in his native language. No one besides Rock Lee and him knew what the flames of youth were. For all Naruto knows, they can actually see the flames of youth.

"Ok, what were you sent here for?" Naruto questioned yet again, trusting Gai in informing him in a less questioning way.

"I was assigned in teaching you taijutsu, because your current skill in that section is ferocious." Gai pleaded the last word, as he knew all too well how it felt to be called ferocious. Gai was a ferociously strange person, if that even made sense. "Today though, we are working on your work out's and warm up's."

(Rock Lee's house)

"Why do I feel suddenly betrayed?" Rock Lee questioned, suddenly stopping him from his current push ups.

(Back to Naruto's house)

"Alright, so to start things off, we must run around Konoha until it's time for you to arrive at the academy." Gai informed Naruto.

"I don't leave for the academy until 11:00! That's about 3 and a half hours of constant running!" Naruto pleaded, as if his life was about to end. Gai punches Naruto out of his window.

"I'll pay for that once you show me your flames of youth!" Gai announced before jumping out of the broken window. "And, you're unconscious. Great."

(Sasuke's House)

The raven haired Uchiha was practicing his kicks in the unique Uchiha dojo, accompanied by the lightning and rain. As lonesome as it seemed, it wasn't anything near foreign to Sasuke. The boy has had enough time working alone to actually know what silence sounds like.

"Where is that other… I know it's here somewhere." The Uchiha spoke to himself, as he walked aimlessly around the dojo, flipping over certain objects in search of others. That's when he found what he was looking for. "Dusty mannequin. Oh, there's two?"

He put each of the mannequins in his hands, gripping each by the throat and dragging them over to the middle of the mat. He situated each one so that one was 3 feet in front of him, and the other 3 feet behind. There was roughly a six foot gap in between each of them, so space was limited.

"I need some distance." Sasuke theorized to himself, as he backed up to the left of the mannequin that was in the back. He took a deep breath, and looked at his feet while he jumped up and down, attempting to pump himself up like a boxer does before a fight. "Here we go."

He runs from the bottom left hand corner to the mannequin and does a mid air swinging kick with his left leg. As he hit's the mannequins head, he puts his right hand on the head of the mannequin, and pushes himself off of it, while also kicking it with both feet. He back flips through the air and lands on the other mannequins shoulders, thighs on both sides. "And now you die." Sasuke announced, as he twisted his bottom half, resulting in the decapitation of the mannequin. It falls over with Sasuke on top of it, something he didn't expect as he plummeted to the floor, head first. He sat like that for a few seconds, butt in the air, knees on the floor, with his cheek flattened against the cold tile.

"The mighty Uchiha, in that stance?" Came a familiar, knuckle head voice.

Sasuke got out of his embarrassing stance and put himself in a Indian position. "Get out of here Naruto!"

"Actually, I'm not in your dojo. I'm outside, see?" Naruto announced, while a greener than usual Gai caught up.

"With this much speed, you will not need the weights!" Gai announced, giving Naruto a thumbs up.

Naruto looked ecstatic. "Really?"

"Do you really take me for a guy that doesn't push people to their limits?" Gai questioned, with a look of seriousness and irritation on his face.

Naruto squinted, trying to figure out what was going on with the green man. Actually, what _wasn't _going on with the guy? "You seem really out of character with that look on your-"

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Sasuke screamed, while Naruto laughed.

"I'm not in your-" Naruto began, but was cut off when Sasuke began super fast hand seals, and shot fire out of his mouth towards the unusual colored clothed people that were infiltrating his home.

"Sasuke calm down!" Naruto screamed as he ran down the street.

"You didn't tell me you had youthful friends!" Gai announced happily, while crying something fierce.

(17 hours later, Naruto's house)

Naruto planted his poor, restless and sore body down on his bed, with a cup of Ramen in one hand, and a blanket in the other. That _training _Gai put him through really put a number on his body, evidence of his destroyed legs. Not only that, but going to the Academy after running around Konoha 6 times was enough to make him groan. Luckily for him, sparring day was called off due to weather issues. Today was quite the day.

He finished off the rest of his Ramen, before throwing it towards the table in attempt of making the collection of boxes bigger. Naruto swears that it looks intimidating in the dark, causing that weird shape. He really needs to take those things to the garbage tomorrow.

And with that thought, he slowly drifted off into his dreamland.

(Council meeting, present time)

"And with that, I bring this meeting to a close. Good night." Sarutobi finished, as the room suddenly erupted in mid-level volume of chatter that was easily distinguishable as being about what happened at the meeting. Agreements and disagreements were tossed around, as the elders made their way out the door. Sarutobi thought this was probably one of the worst things about being Hokage, besides from paperwork. Dealing with the council was harder than it seemed, as you would expect otherwise. Being Hokage at a council meeting, was like being a child in a school; you were alike everyone else. Sarutobi hated that fact, but demanding more leniency because of his standing would only be dropped back down, as well as his reputation.

"Sometimes I wish I had an assistant for these types of things." Sarutobi pleaded to himself, as he slumped lower into his chair. He put his hand on his beard as he started massaging it. "I really am getting to old for this."

At that moment, 2 ANBU members arrived into the room, then bowing down to their Hokage. "Gai-sensei successfully did what you asked, Hokage-sama." The ANBU announced, still bowed.

Sarutobi nodded, and motioned for them to get up. "Did he overdo it?"

"No Hokage-sama, he only ran around Konoha 6 times with the child." The ANBU with the gorilla mask announced.

"In normal circumstances, I'd say that was overdoing it, but were talking about Gai." Sarutobi chuckled, then looked at the ANBU with seriousness. "You're not telling me something."

The 2 ANBU sweat dropped, as they tried to make these next words sounds as un-menacing as possible. Unfortunately, that isn't possible. "Gai-sensei physically attacked Naruto out of a window, in one of his known outburst."

Sarutobi blanched. "I should have known Gai would do something like that." He then looked beyond the ANBU, before suddenly remembering something. "Inform Kurenai that her shift starts tomorrow morning, at 9:00 with the boy."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The two ANBU answered back, bowing once again.

"Dismissed." Sarutobi informed.

(Next morning, 8:30 with Kurenai)

Kurenai was walking aimlessly down the marketplace, in search of the young boy she was assigned to assist. While the ANBU informed her of what she would be doing the next day, they failed to inform her of where he lived. "This is harder than I expected it to be." She announced to herself, as she stopped for one moment, looking up at the clouds. She felt mocked by the whole situation. Did everyone underestimate her? Social skills, instead of Genjutsu. That made no sense to the young Jounin, as she found her way out of the marketplace, and into what looked like a run down apartment complex. She saw an old lady sweeping the front steps of the entrance.

"Excuse me?" Kurenai questioned the old lady, getting her attention.

"Yes, how may I help you?" The lady asked, in a cheerful tune.

"Do you know where Uzumaki Naruto lives, or do you have an idea of what district he lives in?" Kurenai asked, with a perplexed look on her face.

The lady perked up. "He lives in 6B, right up these stairs."

"Thank you very much." Kurenai replies admirably, with a bow.

The lady bows back. "My pleasure."

(Naruto's apartment)

Naruto awakens to a knock at his door. "Must be Gai." He figures to himself as he gets up and walks to the door. He opens it, but doesn't look at who it is at first, due to the fact he is rubbing his eyes with his forearm.

"Hello, Naruto-chan." Kurenai greeted with an eye smile.

Naruto faltered for a second, not knowing really what to say. Kurenai beat him to it.

"My name is Kurenai, and I'm supposed to be your teacher for today." Kurenai announced to a lack of response Naruto.

Naruto realized something was amiss. "Ok, now I'm concerned. Why is it that everyone is coming to me now, trying to help me on something?"

Kurenai looked at him with displeasure. She didn't really like the way he was speaking to her, like she was inferior, especially when she really didn't want to be helping the boy in something she did not sign up for to begin with. She taught Genjutsu, not how to talk to someone. "If you have not found out why, then you must not know the reason. I will not tell you."

Naruto looked a little displeased. Thursdays were his Ramen days!

Naruto giggled uncomfortably, before scratching the back of his head. "Sorry Kurenai-san. It's not often I get visitors. At least you won't be like the other guy, who talks about flames of youth."

Kurenai ignored the boy, as she walked around the kitchen. "You really shouldn't eat this much Ramen, it's bad for you. We need to change this."

Naruto gasped. "I miss Gai already!"

(End Chapter)

Well that settles it guys! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. Review the story, and tell me what you thought about it, or just sit back and wait for the next chapter. Do what you like, and I'll get back to you soon!

Sincerely,

Admired.


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